Mercedes endured “very bruising” Dutch Grand Prix

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff called their Dutch Grand Prix performance “very bruising” after their cars finished seventh and eighth.

George Russell ran third early in the race but lost time with a slow pit stop early on, then made an extra tyre change which failed to pay off.

Lewis Hamilton was able to climb six places to finish eighth, but was frustrated to miss out on the bonus point for fastest lap, which Lando Norris took from him on the final tour. Hamilton had been told by his race engineer Peter Bonnington the lap he already set was unlikely to be beaten.

Wolff admitted the result was “pretty bad” for Mercedes, who finished first and second in the previous race before Russell’s car was disqualified for being underweight.

“In the last race weekend you finish first and second, and then seventh and eighth, we clearly got one junction or more junctions wrong in how the car was running,” Wolff told the official F1 channel. “It’s very bruising but sometimes you need the bruises in order to make a big step again.”

Russell was unable to recover the places he lost by making his second pit stop, but Wolff said the team had no choice but to bring him in again.

“I think he just terribly ran out of tyres,” said Wolff. “So that’s why we had to switch the two-stop.

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“Lewis had a lock-up and was down to the canvas, and that’s why also a two-stop there. But overall, Lewis’s pace was good, I think that was correct.

“On George there was a different set-up direction also that we need to evaluate. But there was more to it, I believe, than what you could see at first sight.”

Mercedes won three of the four races before the Dutch Grand Prix but Wolff isn’t taking it for granted that this weekend’s result was a blip in form.

“I’m never confident, the glass is always half-empty and not half-full,” he said. “I think lots of learning and then next weekend we just have to show it on track rather than predict too much.”